[Show abstract][Hide abstract]ABSTRACT:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common systemic autoimmune disease and its onset and prognosis are controlled by genetic, immunological, and environmental factors. The HLA locus, particularly HLA-DRB1, is its strongest genetic risk determinant across ethnicities. Several other genes, including PTPN22 and PADI4, show modest association with RA. However, they cover only a part of its genetic components and their relative contribution is different between populations. To identify novel genetic determinants, we took a candidate gene approach in a trans-ethnic manner. After critical selection of 169 genes based on their immunological function, we performed SNP discovery of these genes by the resequencing of exons and surrounding areas using European and Japanese DNAs. We then generated a panel of 1,509 SNPs for case-control association study in both populations. The DerSimonian-Laird test for meta-analysis, using the combined results of the two populations, identified rs7551957 at the 5'-flanking region of the low-affinity Fc-gamma receptor IIa (FCGR2A) gene as the strongest candidate for the association (p = 8.6 × 10(-5), odds ratio = 1.58 with 95%CI 1.25-1.99). Suggestive signals were also obtained for three SNPs in the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) gene (rs6685859; p = 1.3 × 10(-4), rs7550959; p = 1.5 × 10(-4) and rs7531138; p = 1.7 × 10(-4)) and an intronic SNP, rs2269310, of the erythrocytic spectrin beta (SPTB) gene (p = 7.9 × 10(-4)).

[Show abstract][Hide abstract]ABSTRACT:
Single nucle otide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most popular markers in genetic epidemiology. Multiple tests have been applied to evaluate genetic effect of SNPs, such as Pearson's test with two degrees of freedom, three tests with one degree of freedom (chi(2) tests for dominant and recessive modes and Cockran-Armitage trend test for additive mode) as well as MAX3 test and MAX test, which are combination of four tests mentioned earlier. Because MAX test is a combination of Pearson's test of two degrees of freedom and two tests of one degree of freedom, the probability density function (pdf) of MAX statistics does not match pdf of chi(2) distribution of either one or two degrees of freedom. In order to calculate P-value of MAX test, we introduced a new diagram, Double Triangle Diagram, which was an extension of de Finetti diagram in population genetics which characterized all of the tests for 2 x 3 tables. In the diagram the contour lines of MAX statistics were consisted of elliptic curves and two tangent lines to the ellipses in the space. We normalized the ellipses into regular circles and expressed P-value of MAX test in an integral form. Although a part of the integral was not analytically solvable, it was calculable with arbitrary accuracy by dividing the area under pdf into finite rectangles. We confirmed that P-values from our method took uniform distribution from 0 to 1 in three example marginal count sets and concluded that our method was appropriate to give P-value of MAX test for 2 x 3 tables.